Day 33 -- DOORS

Well, the doors weren't much to start with, but James has made them look as good as possible -- a fresh coat of white glossy paint sprayed on and now they're drying.

Ryan and Haley took the girls for the day and joined us for dinner before I headed to work again.  What a blessing for them to love the girls so much -- and for the girls to love them!  Charis came home with hands full of crafts and pictures -- so fun!  

The Benders also stopped by with a housewarming gift for us -- THANK YOU!!!  Among other things, there was a new crock/canister to hold my kitchen gadgets -- replacing the one that shattered in the move. How thoughtful!! 

Back to work I go.  In charge tonight...

Day 32 -- Another Reality Check

Ah, Friday.  It promised to be so full of progress, but I barely stayed afloat. Laundry, feeding kiddos, dishes, dishes, dishes, keeping paper products out of Gwyneth's mouth. That's what I did today. And it's by no means a waste of a day, but it's a real-life day. 

Jeff did come over and make a lot of noise in the red room -- chipping up concrete.  :-)  All prep for carpet.  Can't wait until that gets done, so G can crawl freely without me having to wonder if she's found the room o' dust and concrete. 

Off to work...

Day 31

What a day.  After not much sleep again, thanks to my poor girlies, we spent the morning vacuuming, washing dishes, and making some yummy Cranberry Walnut Bread.  Grandma Brown came for the afternoon so I could go to the doctor (all's well with baby), and then I met with my managers.  Could not have picked a worse time to resign -- the floor was crazy, and several nurses have quit or cut back in the last couple of weeks.  Ugh.  But I'm glad that part is done. Now just 7 more nights...Wow!

We said "Goodbye" to our little Camry tonight.  The Shelburnes came over to pick it up, and we had a really fun time hanging out -- especially the little girls.  I'm hoping the car will be a great deal for them.  And now we're really on the hunt...

I told James the other night how fun it was to be able to walk around barefoot in (most of) the house.  (What a difference a month makes!) His reply:  "You know what's more fun than that?  Because you were in THIS bathroom, I went to the OTHER bathroom!"  Talk about a nice feature!  More than one toilet in a house?!  Amazing!

Headed to bed a little earlier than usual tonight.  I'm headed back to work tomorrow night, so it will be a long day.  But we're almost done!!!

Day 30

Vacation day for James today -- which just meant more work at home. :-)  We started out with an early breatkfast just down the street at Omelettes N Moore (clever, eh?).  Yummy yummy...

James got all of the doors primed with the sprayer, which was good while it worked and incredibly frustrating when it didn't.  Jeff stopped by (he does a lot these days :-))  and helped out for a few minutes, topped off with a brownie for the road. 

In big news, we sold our car today!  Weren't planning on doing it this soon, but our buyers (friend from work and her cop husband) were ready, so we went for it.  We'll be driving the Starship Enterprise for a while until we get our new ride.  We're just really grateful that we didn't even have to put a "For Sale" sign on our car -- talk about easy!

James also provided the neighbors with another flea market tonight -- findings from the shed on the curb -- there have already been several things taken. Crazy...

Well, the uniforms are starched and pressed and hanging, ready for the next three work days.  Whew. I'm off to bed.

Day 29

Another real-life day today.  Gwyneth was up several times last night because the poor thing couldn't breathe. Runny nose season.  Whoopie...   Needless to say, I was fallling asleep on the living room floor by 9am. :-) Charis was sweet to ignore me then wake me up with a kiss when she'd had enough alone time. (G was napping -- lucky kid). 

Anyway, we had a fun day of unpacking some more boxes -- picture frames, stuffed animals, blankets, clothes.  The girls did great today playing together.  Charis cracks me up -- "Come on, Sissy. You can do it."  "This way, Sissy. Come here, Sissy."  "No, do it like this, Sissy."  And Gwyneth went right along with it, enjoying the company (and built-in entertainment). 

We took gloriously long naps this afternoon, and James got home right on time.  We sat down for dinner -- a first for just the four of us in our new house.  What a treat!  James then went to work on trying out the fireplace, too, and we got to enjoy a nice warm glow for a little while.  The girls were fascinated -- still have to figure out how we're going to handle the fireplace issues.  Screen, rules, soot, etc. 

I'm working on laundry and, once again, starching. :-)  James is OFF TOMORROW!  So I'm taking the opportunity to get all of his uniforms done in the next 2 days, ready to get him through the weekend, since I'll be working.  We sure have plenty of places to hang things up here, especially places where it doesn't matter one bit if starch drips on the floor. LOL. 

Enjoying a hot cup of tea, then nothing else for the evening. Ah......

Day 28

A good day at home...

I got up early this morning -- before the girls -- amazing what a difference that can make in your day! After breakfast, I cleaned out the back living room and swept and vacuumed and created a rather large dust cloud. :-)  But it sure looks a lot cleaner! 

We headed to Target -- fun as always -- and got some bath rugs, houseshoes, etc.  Just plain fun! 

We spent the rest of the day playing with the toys which have all returned home from Poppy and Granbee's! The girls had a blast playing with everything. Charis kept yelling, "Mommy, look!" everytime she found something for the first time. It was pretty fun.

We ended up taking James over to the Browns' to get his bike for a trip back to Norman (meeting. ugh.), so we stopped in to say hi and had a yummy dinner courtesy of the fantastic Mrs. Brown.  That worked out well! :-)

Back to Target tonight for some exchanges -- wanted to be able to say I finished my projects today. And now we're off to bed. Another day at home tomorrow, then James will be off on Wednesday! YAY!!

Day 27

Well, for the first time in about six weeks, we were able to go to Sunday morning church as a family. All four of us.  What a treat!  We had a great day at church today and a yummy fun lunch at Mom's for family birthdays.  Not to mention a fabulous naptime -- thanks to all who made that possible. :-) 

I swept and mopped the kitchen tonight -- that floor's gonna drive me nuts, but James couldn't be happier -- I'm mopping!!  Felt like my sweet dad, mopping at the end of the evening.  Funny...

I also did my favorite -- ironing uniforms. I'm getting to be quite the pro. I highly recommend PREMIUM starch -- it truly doesn't flake.  Worth the extra cents.

Have I mentioned lately that I love my husband?  He's a dreamer, alright, with big plans in his head for this house, among other things. I've learned not to get scared when he shares those dreams -- I just enjoy the sharing.  But he's also a doer.  What a hard-worker he is, and so talented at so many things. I'm thankful for his strong work ethic, for his willingness and ability to provide for us girls, and his incredibly thoughtful and sensitive self while doing it all.  Every day brings a new appreciation for this husband, father, and friend that the Lord has provided...